Hagar was the first surrogate mother in a desperate couple’s love triangle. It all sounds so very sordid when put this way, but I call it like I see it. If you don’t know the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar here’s the short version:

Sarah couldn’t have children. God had promised her and Abraham that he would give them a child, but so far God hadn’t delivered. Therefore, Sarah took matters into her own hands and orchestrated the very fist episode of Real Housewives of Canaan. First, Sarah tells her husband to sleep with her servant, Hagar, so they can have a child. Hagar gets pregnant. Sarah gets mad. Hagar runs away. God sends an angel to repair the damage done. Ultimately a baby named Ismael is born.

While the story in itself is full of stupid human schemes and typical human emotions, it’s Hagar’s encounter with the angel that changes the entire plot. In the midst of her turmoil and mistreatment, God speaks to her. And as usual, He brings resolution.

Thereafter, Hagar referred to the Lord, who had spoken to her, as “the God who sees me”, for she said, “I have seen the One who sees me!” (Genesis 16:13 )

Did you catch that word thereafter? According to this scripture, from that moment on (thereafter) Hagar referred to God as the one who sees her. It doesn’t say that only in the moment of angel conversation she calls him that, but it says thereafter. Later when things in her life were miserable, she remember that God saw her in the midst of that baby debacle, and she continued to rest in that fact. Her faith expanded not just for a moment but for a lifetime.

When you truly realize that God sees you, when you experience a moment that is clear evidence that God is looking straight down into your little world, you cannot forget that moment. However, you can tend to worry if he will do it again. Hagar did not.

May our faith be full of thereafters. May our belief be strengthened as we realize God sees us at every moment. He is constantly gazing down into our little world and working things out for our good (Romans 8:28). Just because we don’t see it doesn’t mean that He doesn’t see us every moment – now and in the future.